Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Home Sales Surging

The Mortgage Corner Total existing home sales are accelerating, and prices are rising along with declining inventories. Sales that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 5.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million in November … Continue reading

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Q4 GDP Growth Improving

Financial FAQs We are seeing faster economic growth in the fourth quarter, even after the upward revision of Q3 GDP growth to 2.7 percent from 2.0 percent. The reason? The 146,000 jump in November payroll jobs, soaring retail sales, and … Continue reading

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2013 Year of Housing Recovery

The Mortgage Corner Wall Street is jumping on the real estate band wagon. Not only are hedge funds now buying foreclosed homes in bulk, reducing the ‘shadow inventory’ of homes with delinquent mortgages, but the record low interest rates are … Continue reading

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U.S. Economy Is In Recovery

Popular Economics Weekly I mentioned last week that the U.S. economy is now growing faster than the rest of the developed world. How can that be, you say, with all the election propaganda saying the recovery has been a failure?  … Continue reading

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Bernanke’s QE3 Challenge

Popular Economics Weekly Should we call him King Ben? Much like King Arthur, Fed Chairman Bernanke and his Roundtable of Fed Governors have taken on the confidence fairies, to use Paul Krugmans’s term, the austerity promoters who believe the only … Continue reading

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Increased Consumer Spending a Good Sign

Financial FAQs The most recent retail sales show consumers are able to spend more, even as they borrow more. Add to that credit card delinquencies are at an 18-year low, according to credit reporting company Transunion Corp., and we have … Continue reading

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Manufacturing Continues Expansion (So Austerity Not the Answer)

“Manufacturing continues to lead U.S. recovery”, said the April ISM manufacturing survey that measures overall manufacturing activity. “The PMI registered 54.8 percent, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from March’s reading of 53.4 percent, indicating expansion in the manufacturing sector … Continue reading

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What Has Caused Record Inequality (and Greater Recessions)?

Popular Economics Weekly Economists Lawrence Mishel and Heidi Shierholz of the labor think tank Economic Policy Institute (EPI) have been asking a question in their latest work that is at the root of our various economic crises, “Why did the … Continue reading

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Employment Report Means Holiday Cheers!

Popular Economics Weekly Not only were the employment numbers for the past 3 months much higher than originally estimated, but job openings are growing. All we need now is for consumers’ credit conditions to ease to bring back their confidence. … Continue reading

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The Fed Has Two Mandates—Growth + Price Stability

Financial FAQs Why has there been so much debate over the Fed’s monetary policy of so-called Quantitative Easing? The simplest answer is that it pits those countries and ideologies that see the world as a zero-sum game—the I Win, You … Continue reading

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